LAFAYETTE – Louisiana's women's basketball team has announced the official hiring of new Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Valerie Huizar for the upcoming 2017-18 season.

Coach Huizar comes to Louisiana after spending the past season as the assistant head coach at St. Mary's in San Antonio, Texas. And she brings over six years of coaching experience to the Ragin' Cajuns staff.

"I'm very excited and anxious to get my first chance at the Division I level," said Huizar. "I'm extremely humbled for the opportunity but at the same time I'm curious to see what we can accomplish here at Louisiana."

"Her experiences on many different levels made her a great fit for us," said head coach Garry Brodhead. "She was head coach at LSU-Shreveport and then coached at both junior and Division II colleges. If you look at her record there's a lot of wins that come along with her time at those schools."

Huizar is originally from San Antonio and played four years of college basketball, graduating from LSU-Shreveport before joining their staff for the 2010-11 season to begin her coaching career.

From there she bounced around serving on several different coaching staffs earning experience and growing her craft.

"Honestly, I couldn't see myself doing anything other than coaching," said Huizar. "I love basketball and I grew up around it. This is the next best thing to playing it.

"The foundation of winning is already built here at Louisiana, and that's why I really enjoyed getting to know the coaching staff throughout this process. We, as a staff want to do better and coach Brodhead isn't satisfied with where the program is. And hopefully I can help tweak a thing here and there and help us become even better."

Huizar's experience coaching in both Texas and Louisiana and the footprint she has there should be a big piece of growing the Cajuns program going forward.

"We have a Texas and Louisiana heavy roster, with some other states mixed in there," said Brodhead. "We recruit Louisiana first and Texas is right behind that, because of the numbers that the state has.

"And with coach Huizar being from San Antonio and knowing all the different areas of the major cities in Texas I think is huge. We've done well in Texas, with coach [Amber] Gregg being from Texas, so hiring Valarie, the fact that she's from Texas was big for us.

"It's going to help us grow even more both in Louisiana and in Texas. She brings that extra that we really need to attempt to expand in those areas."

Her offensive mindset is also an added piece she can add to the Cajuns in the coming seasons, because the Cajuns are already a solid defensive team.

"I get to have a hand in the offensive side of things here," said Huizar. "Since coach Brodhead is a big defensive guy, and that's his bread and butter. So, I'm excited to bring in my offensive experience to team."

Huizar should be a great addition to the Cajuns staff, and as a recruiting coordinator her ability to build relationships will be key to making the Cajuns as good as they can be.

"With recruiting it's about building relationships," said Brodhead. "Knowing her for the last few years and watching her career we felt that she would be a great fit with us while we try to build relationships with young women. And she's very passionate about what she does and brings that to the University.

"During the process, she just seemed like the perfect fit. She's family oriented and that's big for me and I thought the community would fall in love with her because of her character and personality."

Huizar brings experience and passion to the Cajuns and the product on the court should reflect that going forward.

"If young women want to come in here and be challenged," said Huizar. "And they want to play with other good players while getting better along with winning, then they should come here to Louisiana and become a part of the Ragin' Cajuns family."